1879
Year 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). Events of 1879 January - March * January 1 - The Specie Resumption Act takes effect. The Greenback is valued the same as Gold for the first time since the Civil War. * January - The current constitution of The State of California, US was ratified. * January 2 - Fred Spofforth claims the first Hat-trick in test cricket. * January 11 - Anglo-Zulu War begins. * January 22 - Zulu troops massacre British troops at the Battle of Isandlwana. At Rorke's Drift, outnumbered British soldiers drive the attackers away after hours of fighting. * February 12 - At New York City's Madison Square Garden the first artificial ice rink in North America opens. * February 14 - At Antofagasta, Chile: Chilean troops disembark in this port, then Bolivian. This is the beginning of the War of the Pacific between Chile and the joint forces of Peru and Bolivia. * February 15 - Women's rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. * February 22 - In Utica, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores. * February 27 - The discovery of saccharin is announced. * March 3 - The United States Geological Survey is created * March 12 - Anglo-Zulu War: A British force over one-hundred strong is ambushed and destroyed by Zulu forces. * March 13 - Marriage of The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, third son of Queen Victoria, to Princess Louise Marguerite of Prussia. * March 14 - Albert Einstein: German-born physicist who would go on to revolutionize modern Physics. * March 28 - Anglo-Zulu War: British forces suffer a defeat at the Battle of Hlobane. * March 29 - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus. April - June * April 3 **The Anti Revolutionary Party is formed in the Netherlands by Abraham Kuyper. It is the first political party formed advocating Christian Democracy; in opposition to the secularism of Dutch society, which was following a course in the militant secularism of the French Revolution. **Anglo-Zulu War: British forces successfully lift the two-month Siege of Eshowe. * April 4 - Sofia becomes the official capital of the Third Bulgarian State. * April 21 (San Jacinto Day) - Texas governor Oran M. Roberts authorized the establishment of Sam Houston Normal Institute (today known as Sam Houston State University). * April 24 - Swedish explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld arrives in Stockholm with the S/S Vega, concluding the world's first circumnavigation of Eurasia. * May 26 - Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state. * May 30 - New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue. *June 14 - Sidney Faithorn Green, an Anglican priest in the Church of England, is tried and convicted for using Ritualist practices July - September * July 4 - Anglo-Zulu War: The Anglo-Zulu War effectively ends at the Battle of Ulundi. * July 19 - Doc Holliday kills for the first time after a man shoots-up Holliday's New Mexico saloon. * August 21 - Virgin Mary, along with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist appeared in Knock to local people. October - December * October 7 - Dual Alliance formed by Germany and Austria-Hungary * October 21 - Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric light bulb (it lasted 13½ hours before burning out). * November - Occult Date of the Archangel Michael overcoming the Dragon" * December 28 - The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee collapses as a train passed over it, killing 75. * December 30 - The Pirates of Penzance is first performed (Paignton, Devon, England). * December 31 - Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time (Menlo Park). Undated * Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black school, is founded. * Hall effect discovered by Dr. Edwin Hall. * Somerville College, is founded. * Stefan-Boltzmann law discovered by Jožef Stefan. * Ferdinand Cheval begins to build his Palais Idéal in France. * The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) was formed. * Fulham F.C. was founded Births January - June * January 1 - E. M. Forster, English writer (d. 1970) * January 3 - Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (d. 1957) * January 10 - Bobby Walker, Hearts and Scotland Footballer, Record Cap Holder for 25 years(d. 1930) * January 12 - Ray Harroun, American race car driver (d. 1968) * January 13 - Melvin Jones, American founder of Lions Clubs International (d. 1961) * January 28 - Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (d. 1953) * February 22 - J. N. Brønsted, Danish chemist (d. 1947) * February 26 - Frank Bridge, English composer (d. 1941) * March 8 - Otto Hahn, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968) * March 14 - Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955) * March 26 - Othmar Ammann, Swiss-born engineer (d. 1965) * March 27 - Edward Steichen, Luxembourgeois-born painter/photographer (d. 1973) * March 30 - Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (d. 1954) * April 16 - Gala Galaction, Romanian writer (d. 1961) * April 20 - Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944) * April 26 - Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959) * April 29 - Sir Thomas Beecham, English conductor (d. 1961) * May 6 - Bedřich Hrozny´, Czech orientalist and linguist (d. 1952) * May 17 - Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (d. 1926) * May 19 **Nancy Astor, American-born politician (d. 1964) **Viscount Waldorf Astor, British businessman and politician (d. 1952) * May 22 - Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-born stage and film actress (d. 1945) * May 23 - Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman (d. 1966) * May 25 - Max Aitken, Canadian-born statesman and newspaper publisher (d. 1964) * June 3 - Raymond Pearl, American biologist (d. 1940) * June 10 - Rafael Erich, Prime minister of Finland (d. 1946) July - December * July 1 - Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1954) * July 5 - Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist (d. 1959) * July 22 - Janusz Korczak (Henryk Goldszmit), Polish-Jewish children's author, pediatrician, and child pedagogist (possibly born in 1878) (d. 1942) * August 8 - Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1919) * August 13 - John Ireland, English composer (d. 1962) * August 15 - Ethel Barrymore, stage & film actress (d. 1959) * August 21 - Claude Grahame White, British aviation pioneer, (d. 1959) * August 31 - Emperor Taishō, 123rd Emperor of Japan (d. 1926) * September 2 - An Jung-geun, assassin of the Japanese politician Ito Hirobumi (d. 1910) * September 6 - Joseph Wirth, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1956) * September 14 - Margaret Sanger, American birth control advocate (d. 1966) * September 15 - Joseph Lyons, the Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1939) * September 20 - Victor Sjöström, Swedish film actor and director (d. 1960) * October 2 - Wallace Stevens, American poet (d. 1955) * October 3 - Warner Oland, Swedish-born actor (d. 1938) * October 5 - Francis Peyton Rous, American pathologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1970) * October 9 - Max von Laue, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1960) * October 21 - Joseph Canteloube, French composer and singer (d. 1957) * October 29 - Franz von Papen, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1969) * November 4 - Will Rogers, American humorist (d. 1935) * November 7 - Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (d. 1940) * November 10 ** Vachel Lindsay, American poet (d. 1931) ** Patrick Pearse, Irish patriot (d. 1916) * December 12 - Laura Hope Crews, stage & film actress (aunt PittyPat), (d. 1942) * November 26 - Charles W. Goddard, playwright and screenwriter (d. 1951) * December 3 - Nagai Kafu, Japanese writer (d. 1959) * December 10 - Jouett Shouse, American politician (d. 1968) * December 18 - Paul Klee, Swiss artist (d. 1940) * December 28 - Billy Mitchell, U.S. general and military aviation pioneer (d. 1936) *''date unknown'' **Joseph Campbell, Northern Irish poet and lyricist (d. 1944) **Robert Wilson Lynd, Northern Irish essayist and writer (d. 1949) **Francis "Frank" Mcgee, ice hockey superstar (d. 1916, Battle of the Somme) : See also 1879 births. Deaths January - June *January 8 - Baldomero Espartero (b. 1793) *February 11 - Honoré Daumier, French caricaturist and painter (b. 1808) *February 23 - Albrecht Graf von Roon, Prime Minister of Prussia (b. 1803) *February 25 - Charles Peace, British criminal (executed) (b. 1832) *March 1 - Joachim Heer, Swiss politician (b. 1825) *March 2 - John Eberhard Faber, pencil manufacturer (b. 1822) * March 30 - Thomas Couture, French painter and teacher (b. 1815) * April 30 - Sarah Josepha Hale, American author (b. 1788) * June 1 - Napoleon Eugene, son of French Emperor Napoleon III (b. 1856) July - December *July 19 - Louis Favre, engineer * August 11 - George Willison Adams, Ohio abolitionist (b.1799) * August 30 - John Bell Hood, America Confederate general (b. 1831) *September 30 - Francis Gillette, politician (b. 1807) * November 5 - James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist (b. 1831) : See also 1879 deaths. References